The invention relates to a method for producing a sole for a shoe, especially for a sports shoe, wherein the sole has at least a first section which consists of a first plastic material and has at least a second section which consists of a second plastic material, wherein the second plastic material is Expanded Thermoplastic Polyurethane (E-TPU).
Soles for shoes of the generic kind are well known in the art. In US 2000/0013558 A1 a shoe sole is disclosed which comprises of two different polymer materials, i. e. a first section is made of a first material and a second section is made of a second material. In WO 2007/082838 A1 a shoe sole is disclosed which specifically is made from Expanded Thermoplastic Polyurethane (E-TPU). Here, also detailed information is disclosed with respect to this type of plastic material; concerning the mentioned material E-TPU explicit reference is made to this document.
In DE 10 2012 206 094 A1 a shoe sole is disclosed which also uses the combination of two different materials, wherein one of the materials is Expanded Thermoplastic Polyurethane (E-TPU). The section consisting of E-TPU is quite large here.
With respect to the solution according to DE 10 2012 206 094 A1 it was found that the production costs of a respective sole for a shoe is quite high as the expensive E-TPU material is required in a significant amount.